Netherlands to lead military partnerships

The Netherlands are aiming to strengthen cooperation with other European countries and play a pioneering role in multinational defence projects. According to Dutch Defence Minister Hans Hillen, speaking to the Lower Chamber of the Dutch parliament, this includes projects with ships, vehicles or aircraft: “We must break the taboo that every country must be able to and even has to do everything themselves.” The Netherlands are currently running military partnership projects with Denmark, Norway, Belgium and Germany. Beside the cooperation with the Danish and Norwegian governments concerning the deployment of F-35 fighter aircraft, the minister in particular mentioned the partnership with the German army. In a common army corps, Dutch soldiers are operating under German command without any problems. The Party for Freedom (PVV), partner of Minister Hillen’s Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) in the governing coalition, threatened with internal political consequences in case of a further cession of national sovereignty through defence cooperation.

Hillen also mentioned the importance of NATO as main guarantor of European security, not without acknowledging the EU’s role and calling for decreasing European military dependency on the US: ”Only if the European member states can learn to stand more on their own feet can they in due course remain full allies of the United States. It is therefore not only a matter of cutting costs, but very certainly also of boosting the clout.”

Minister Hillen spoke at the SDA’s annual NATO Conference in June 2010. He said that the security challenge for Europe was to re-assert the basic principle that “burdens should be shared equally, and Europe must be careful with economising on security.” Find the report here.